


Faces, numbers and chairs

by CatrinMcCave



Category: 999: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 03:57:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21047924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinMcCave/pseuds/CatrinMcCave
Summary: After many years of reseach and experimenting, Kubota and Nijisaki use their unparalleled deduction and role play skills to find out Hongou's true motive behind creating the Nonary project. It turns out to be just as complex as they would expect it to be.





	Faces, numbers and chairs

*Year 2015, business district of Tokyo, the head office of Cradle Pharmaceuticals. A small messy laboratory. The only table that isn't covered in junk has a chessboard on it. On the opposite sides from it are the R&D supervisor T. and the chief of staff N.*

T. _(looks through the test reports)_ Okay, so if both test subjects only named the same number in 20% of cases, do I count that as an error as well? _(moves one of his rooks)_  
N. How should I know? _(yawns)_ Ask the boss.  
T. I don't have to - he should have given you all the instructions.  
N. He did. The instructions are 'find twenty telepaths until Monday or forget about your bonus money'.  
T. Don't you want to, like, go ask him for more information since your money is at stake and you're not doing anything anyway?  
N. Not even remotely. _(makes a move and takes a bowl of fast food from the table)_ He's not in the right mood for it - he didn't even say hi to me before, almost like he doesn't recognize me.  
T. That's what he's normally like.  
N. No, this time he was actually busy when I got here. I think he was struggling with some kind of calculations, then he just looked at me and took off without a word. And here I was, doing my best to be just one hour late.  
T. How rude of him…  
N. And speaking of my money, he bloody well better give it to me without question. I deserved it when I got these boys at an auction in New York for only 40 000 yen each _(leans casually on an antique chair)_. See - these are from the same lot as the furniture that sunk with the Titanic. Imagine how much more similar the situations will be! If that's not attention to detail, then I don't know what is.  
T. _(looks closer, adjusts his glasses)_ I don't want to be a buzz kill, Nagisa, but they're fake.  
N. Why's that?  
T._ (sigh)_ Antiques always wear unevenly. And your chair looks like it was occupied by a perfectly symmetrical mannequin. You ought to have known that.  
N. You're not kidding, are you? _(moves a hand across the seat)_ Do you think Hongou will notice this?  
T. You should ask me if the morphogenetic field will notice.  
N. You really do know everything, don't you?  
T. At least I know enough not to throw half a million yen into a shredder.  
N. But still not enough to buy yourself a bag of 'earl grey'?  
T. Not this again…_ (makes another move)_  
N. You can't just heat up a cup of bottled ice tea and pretend it doesn't taste like shit. That's not how tea is made!  
T. You know what else you can't do? Wear a polo shirt in the office or eat in the lab. That doesn't seem to bother you.  
N. _(takes a look at the dirty red tennis shirt he's wearing)_ Not my fault. I didn't have time to go home and pick up the usual attire. Or have a breakfast.  
T. Did something happen to you?  
N. No, that's the problem. There was a huge suburban house with a pool in the backyard, a ton of alcohol and fireworks bigger than your head, and still nothing happened. I don't remember much, but I'm pretty sure whatever we did, I didn't think it was cool. I almost feel bad about ditching work the other day.  
T. And you're still wondering why Hongou doesn't talk to you.  
N. You say something?  
T. Are you gonna help me pick out the subjects or what?  
N. _(pokes the bowl with chopsticks)_ I need to concentrate - I can't catch that last rice grain…  
T. Okay, say no more.  
N. No-no, wait _(puts away the bowl and moves a pawn)_. Let's try and think outside the box for a second.  
T. Do entertain me. _(rests a cheek against his hand)_  
N. Is 20% a lot?  
T. No.  
N. How many people did better?  
T. Well… About 10 of the test subjects scored 40% or higher.  
N. How good is that?  
T. Two right answers. Or more.  
N. Wait… Only two?  
T. Out of five.  
N. But that's not enough for an honest analysis.  
T. Because we don't have enough tests.  
N. Because you didn't conduct enough tests!  
T. I'm not getting paid enough to conduct more.  
N. Ugh… _(shakes his head)_ Okay, look, just pick the best of the worst and move on.  
T. Won't that bite us? What if we pick them now only to find out they can't do squat on the Gigantic?  
N. See, it's easy. There are two chairs in front of us. The spikes on the first seat are sharp and big, but on the second one there’s a huge erect-  
T. _(smacks his own forehead)_ I'm so tired of you.  
N. Okay, so you sit on the first one and stop worrying about this. Or you sit on the second one and decide to spend a lot of time and money on a new test. The worst thing that could happen in the former case - we put the kids on the Gigantic, find out they are shitty telepaths, Hongou gets upset and shuts down the experiment. But in the latter case we proceed with the experimenting, put the kids on the Gigantic and - who could have fucking guessed - we find out the kids are shitty tele-  
T. If you think you're helping, think again. You're only making me even more depressed.  
N. I'm a manager, Teruaki. I can't help it - I'm living my life counting money that you're going to waste. And the outcome is going to be the same anyway - sooner or later Hongou will realize the entire morphogenetic field theory is bullshit and stop caring. The only difference I see is that, if we spend extra money on another test, he will blame us personally for the company's debt.  
T. See, this is exactly why I don't understand what the hell we're doing this for.  
N. Do I look like I know?  
T. No, you look like a lazy asshole.  
N. I'm telling you - I'm a manager _(raises his hands in a gesture of innocence)_. I've got enough on my shoulders as it is - budget approval, personnel complaints, negotiations with the foreman and everything else I don't feel like doing. And let me tell you, the last one is a lot harder now that you're trying to make me watch my language. I'm under no obligation to deal with your glycerin magic.  
T. That's what I said. You're a lazy asshole.  
N. Come on, quit it. You know better that anyone else that the only person allowed to annoy me is my fiancée. I mean, besides Hongou.  
T. _(laughs)_  
N. What?  
T. No-no, nothing.  
N. No, Teruaki, they're not the same person. You're becoming predictable.  
T. At least your subordinates still think it's funny.  
N. Fuck you… It can't be that obvious.  
T. What?  
N. What?  
T. We need to figure something out or we're not getting paid. That's what.  
N. _(completely loses any interest in life)_ Is it too late to leave?  
T. He won't fire you even if you blow him for it.  
N. You think so?  
T._ (smiles)_ He can't afford to lose his personal asskisser. Especially since you have a gift of handling paperwork.  
N. Well, what if I just storm into his office and start screeching furiously about how horrible this job is? Then will he kick me out?  
T. Yes. Only to shove more paperwork onto you the moment you no longer disturb the silence.  
N. Well, shit. _(presses both hands on his head)_ Thinking for myself is torturous.  
T. Hmmm… I have an idea.  
N. You do?  
T. Hongou asked me to conduct another test for him. But it's stupid. I really don't want to deal with this.  
N. But if we do it, we can pretend to be busy for another week and get some additional information as a bonus. Might as well.  
T. Fair point.  
_(pulls out a square box with a 3×3 grid of numbers from 1 to 9 on its cover, a keycard slot next to each number, and a stack of keycards)_  
T. So, he gave me this box with nine keycard slots.  
N. I see.  
T. He also gave me nine keycards. Each card has a matching slot with a number.  
N. Nothing unusual so far.  
T. And there are two sets of portraits of nine different people. One set is on the cards and the other has a number on each picture.  
N. Um…  
T. The pictures aren't identical, of course, but basically everything the test subject has to do to open the box is compare the faces of the people in the pictures.  
N. …  
T. We could just put the numbers right on the cards and nothing would change - we would get an equally pointless puzzle!  
N. Did Hongou tell you to waste your time on this?  
T. I know, right! Why else do you think I’m whining the entire day?  
N. I would spend my whole life whining if I were you.  
T. It also has a password for some reason. He refused to tell me what it is for and how to find it, but he didn't hesitate a single god damn moment before shoving it in my face and ordering me to 'do something with it'.  
N. Where's the password?  
T. There, on the side. There’s a full keyboard on it, but all you have to do is type in one symbol.  
N_. (takes a piece of paper and starts writing)_  
T. All I want to know is the name of the drug that made him think this was a good idea.  
N. I bet the thing he's high on doesn't have a name yet.  
T. Then how the hell is he still alive? Not even lab mice cat eat this crap, and he's- _(stops at the sight of a smug Nagisa showing him a piece of paper with calculations on it)_  
N. Look - it's a matrix.  
T. What?  
N. The nine numbers on the cover. They form a square matrix. I did some calculations – the determinant equals zero.  
T. …  
N. …  
T. Is there anything you can take seriously?! Stop spouting out nonsense and use your head for once.  
N. _(sigh)_ Honestly, I don't understand what you've got to be mad about. You don't have to do much - just take it easy and conduct the test as it is. And after that you can write in the report that the subjects are not complete morons.  
T. Did you forget we already tested that?  
N. What? Why did I miss that?  
T. Because there was one of the puzzles you designed. You know, the one that is solved in three random moves.  
N. …Actually, I've got an idea. I can simply choke you before the boss does it himself.  
T. Or maybe you can think of a reason he would want this done instead?  
N. What do you mean?  
T. If I can guess what kind of results he wants to get from this test, then all I need to do is write it in the report card and forget about it.  
N. That's strange. I thought you would never realize you can do that. But first we need to understand exactly what he thinks the test should look like.  
T. That's the problem - he doesn't. This isn't even a puzzle - it's an insult to the children's intelligence. Humans are able to recognize faces when they’re three months old. Unless one of the test subjects is face blind, they will all solve it without any kind of resonance, let alone morphic.  
N. Face blind? I didn't know that was a thing.  
T. Yeah, that’s called prosopagnosia. But it’s most likely completely irrelevant. I mean, what are the odds that one of the kids has that condition? We would probably already be aware of that.  
N. True. But if it's not the faces he's concerned with, it can only be the matrix.  
T. Again with the matrix. This is absurd!.. _(thinks again)_ He wouldn't do that.  
N. Believe me, I'm not happy with this idea either, but he totally would. In case you forgot, I'm setting up an incinerator in building Q for the sole purpose of scaring the shit out of kids.  
T. The incinerator thing is different. At least it's kind of justified. But forcing them to do higher math is just evil. Not even Hongou is that bad.  
N. Well, at least there's one thing I'm sure of - if I'm right, then I quit.  
T._ (frowns in disbelief)_  
N. I agreed to many horrible things, but this is where I draw the line.  
T. I didn't think you would break that easily.  
N. I'm already covered in cracks from his insane quirks. One more time he tells me not to question the crap we're doing, and he should start looking for a new asskisser.  
T. Come on, don't be so dramatic. You know what he always says - we're all a big family, and he's the head of it.  
N. Well I don't want to tolerate a nutcase father anymore. I'm too old for this.  
T. _(genuinely surprised this time)_ How come? You're not even twenty five.  
N. Who told you that?  
T. Your looks. You can't be thirty and look like a k-pop star.  
N. Oh well. If you must know, Kotaro from the department of solving illogical puzzles is convinced that I'm forty. So where is the truth?  
T. How old are you then?  
N. The truth, Teruaki, is that I'm an adult, the right-hand man of the CEO of a successful pharmaceutical company, and my job is still a complete joke. When the friends of the ABC were my age, they-  
T. Already died.  
N. But they died heroically on the barricades. And what have I done with my life? I'm sitting here playing chess with you to distract myself from my work and the development of the most absurd experiment in human history! I'm about to make innocent kids fight for their lives, and he won't even tell me why. All we ever get from him is some preachy bullshit about the benefits of telepathy. I mean, come on - he doesn't even talk to me anymore!  
T. _(freezes with the queen in his hand)_ …Wait. Did he at least notice you?  
N. Yes. But he didn't even say something like 'get to work, you lazy bastard!' or whatever he usually says when I’m late.  
T. Almost like he didn't recognize you.  
N. Yeah.  
T. On the one day in years when you showed up to work without your usual suit.  
N. Yes! He always told me he was going to annoy me to death if I had the audacity to come here without a rose in my chest pocket, and all he gives me is silent treatment.  
T. Any idea why he says that?  
N. Do you also think he wants me to wear a symbol of passionate love next to my heart?  
T. No, you love sick idiot! It's because he can't recognize you without the rose!  
N._ (slowly leans back against his chair, his eyes wide with shock)_ Fuck you.  
T. I know it sounds crazy, but listen here. Every single person he's ever hired had to agree to follow the dress code, i.e. wear the same set of clothes every day. And now he's given us a puzzle that seems to be made specifically to see if the ability to differentiate between human faces can be transmitted and received telepathically.  
N. This is the most ridiculous thing you said so far. Don't you think that, if Hongou really was face blind, we would be the first two people he would share that with?  
T. Do you think a man as secretive and weird as him would share anything with us unless he had no other choice?  
N. Come on, you’re not making sense.  
T. Neither are you, but you’ll have a chance to test that.  
N. What, me? Why me?  
T. Because it's check mate. _(puts the queen back on the board)_  
N. _(stares at it, dumbfounded)_ How the hell do you do that?  
T. Or else I'm going to tell him about the Xbox you keep under the couch in the lounge.  
N. I thought we were friends.  
T. It's not my fault you're not paying much attention to the game. Now come with me - we're going to need a lab coat like mine, but a few sizes bigger.  
N. Teruaki, this is silly. Of course he can tell us apart. It doesn’t take a genius to see that you’re the short one and I’m the slender one.  
T. Then don't just sit there complaining. Think of something.  
N. I'm not standing on my knees just to be the same height as you!  
T. You're not fooling anyone - the entire office knows you enjoy kneeling before him.  
N. You're just begging for death, aren't you?!

* * *

*Half an hour later, in the office of Cradle Pharmaceuticals CEO G.*

G. Kotaro? Glad to see you again! It's been a while since your last visit.  
N. _(steps into his office in a lab coat and a pair of thick square glasses, his hair pulled back in a knot)_ Yeah… Good afternoon, boss. Long time no see.  
G. How's your department been doing? Are there any new tests coming?  
N. I do have a few ideas, as a matter of fact, but… I thought your executives have already done enough testing to pick out the best subjects. So I don't suggest any more.  
G. Did they tell you that?  
N. Were they lying?  
G._ (laughs)_ You poor gullible soul. The last time my right-hand man was telling the truth, he went on a rant about how much he hates his job. No other word he says should be trusted.  
N. …Thank you for the warning.  
G. So, why are you here?  
N. Boss, I have a tiny favor to ask you.  
G. Go ahead.  
N. _(writes something on a piece of paper)_ Could you please solve something for me?_ (gives him the note)_  
G. _(tries desperately to keep a straight face while looking at it)_ What is this?  
N. It's a system of linear equations. I'm sure you've seen a lot of these in your first year of college.  
G. You need me to solve an equation?  
N. Preferably by the method of Gaussian elimination, but that's for you to decide.  
G. Are you sure nobody else can do it?  
N. If it makes you feel better, you're the last person I asked.  
G. Perhaps you should ask my assistant for help. I'm sure he's fooling around somewhere anyway.  
N. On the contrary, he's very busy right now. The last time I saw him, he was eager to test something very important.  
G. Alright, that's enough._ (stands up)_ What is the meaning of this?  
T. _(leans in through the door)_ It means you screwed up!  
G. What the hell are you goons up to?  
T. Told you he wouldn't recognize you, Nagisa! We didn't even try to hide your face, and he didn't see anyway!  
N. _(lets his hair down and takes the glasses off)_ You don't see my face, do you?  
G. Nagisa…_ (comes closer to be sure)_ Why are you-  
N. And you never told anyone about it? Not after all these years? Not even me?!  
G. Please, listen-  
N. _(gestures him to stop)_ We can discuss this at home, Gentarou. Right now there are more important questions at hand.  
T. _(only slightly proud of his own deduction)_ You never told anyone that you have prosopagnosia. Yet this is exactly why you need the project, is it not?  
N. You need to know if the information about faces can be transmitted through the morphogenetic field, don't you?  
G. What the fuck are you two saying?  
T. Admit it. It's obvious I got it right.  
G. No, it's not obvious! I mean… What do faces have to do with any of this?  
N. Seriously, you can stop pretending. Just tell us the truth and we'll-  
G. I just wanted to learn higher math!  
N. …  
T. …  
G. _(turns away from them, covering his face)_  
N. Holy shit, I was right.  
G. I said it out loud, didn't I? Yes, you got me. The experiment never had a noble purpose.  
N. What are you saying? You mean the numbers on the box you gave us were actually a…  
T. What?  
G. I wanted to see if one could learn math from the morphogenetic field. I hoped it's possible because it is my last chance!  
T. We've been working for years just so that you could understand some college level math?  
G. You're saying that as if it's so easy. You can't even imagine what it's like to listen to Tsurihito!  
N. Wait. You mean Professor Tsurihito? The one everybody called Fish? The professor who was so old that no one could hear him during lectures and he couldn’t hear anyone on the exams?  
G. …How do you know?  
N. _(sighs with relief, takes a step forward to give him a hug)_  
G. Nagisa?  
N. I know how it feels… I didn't know you went through this. I used to be his student, too.  
G. Oh my god. Is he still alive? What did he do to you?  
N. I got lucky - he didn't ask much of me because I'm just a manager. But you… He must have tortured you for the entire semester. I feel your pain, man.  
T. _(is speechless in Japanese)_ Holy shit… Why did I ever agree to help you? I wasted years of my life and had to put up with using children as lab rats when all I had to do was explain some math. I'm going to hell for nothing!  
G. _(whispers to Nagisa)_ He can never understand.  
N. Not a chance.  
T. But what about the faces? What's with the dress code? Why did you not recognize him?  
G. _(steps away awkwardly)_ Um… To be honest, I did. But I thought it was some kind of a role play on his part.  
N._ (blushes heavily)_  
G. I'm actually a bit disappointed that it wasn't the case.  
N. Just so you know, Teruaki, we've never done this before! Not once!  
T. I see.  
G. And the dress code is the one stupid rule that I allow myself to enforce just because I can. If I didn't choose this, I would probably do something even more pointless - like talking to the personnel with pre-recorded messages and watching them get pissed.  
T. Okay, the dress code looks like a blessing in comparison.  
N. But you didn't even talk to me in the morning. Did you think this was a role play, too?  
G. You should have kept your mouth shut, 'Kotaro'. Then, maybe, I wouldn't have remembered that I should penalize you for being late.  
N. _(grinds his teeth furiously)_ This is a very bad time to make me stop swearing.  
T. Alright, listen up. I'm going to go get us a math textbook and we'll be done with the experiment in an hour.  
G. But-  
T. No! If there is a chance we won't waste any more time on glycerin magic, then I'm going to take it or die trying!  
G. It's too late, Teruaki. We've gone too far.  
T. What?  
N. Why?  
G._ (bites on his lip)_ We already bought the Gigantic. Musashidou paid for it. If we stop now, we will be in debt up to our eyeballs.  
T. …  
N. So we'll still have to work?  
G. I'm afraid so.  
T. …Now you can swear all you want, Nagisa. All you fucking want.

* * *

*Year 2018, a lifeboat somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The Gigantic is slowly sinking in the background. The three of them stare at it in silence.*

N. Somehow I feel like I've always known this is how it was going to end.  
G. You know... Why does that math even matter? To hell with it.  
T. What?  
G. No one needs it once they graduate from college, so there's no point in trying to understand it anymore. What we need to be concerned with is that the morphogenetic field actually exists and connects people through space and time. This is what's really important.  
T. Well, most people don’t even interact with the field, so by your logic it's not that important as well. And besides, why didn't you figure it out before? Like ten years ago? That would spare us a lot of trouble.  
G. Oh, will you shut up? Keep looking for the compass - we still need to get back to Japan.  
N. Are you sure we want to go back?  
G. What choice do we have?  
N. See, there are two chairs. The spikes on the first seat are-  
T. _(pushes Nagisa off the boat without a second thought)_  
G. I think I know what he was going to suggest.  
T. Get to Sakhalin, then take the plane to Argentina and hoard llamas for the rest of our lives?  
G. Did he suggest that to you as well?  
T. Every single time you scolded him for minor mistakes.  
G. Well, I have no intention of hiding. Not after what happened in the incinerator. We must continue with our reseach.  
N. _(climbs back into the boat)_ Aren't you afraid we could get our asses thrown in prison if we go back? What if the girl you almost killed in that incinerator turns out to be such a great telepath that she will come back for her vengeance and trick you into killing the two of us and Musashidou with your own hands in the most gruesome ways possible?  
G. …You don't take anything seriously, do you?

**Author's Note:**

> This started out as an angry rant I went on while complaining to my friend about my math professor at the university. I hope it didn't end up being too cringy. I apologize in advance for anything wrong with my grammar or vocabulary - english is not my first language. Feel free to correct me on that. I also give thanks to my good friend for convincing me to write this down.


End file.
